Conservative To The Bone

Given all the controversy over comments made by Phil Robertson I was thinking about people calling his comments vile and hateful. Sin is vile and often hateful. That’s the way life works. I’ve heard many talk about his comments being “coarse”. Sometimes the best way to make a point is to just go ahead and say what’s on your mind without trying to pretty it up. As the old saying goes you can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig. I read what Mr. Robertson said and I don’t disagree with him. He’s just not willing to side step his Christian beliefs to be accepted by vocal minorities as politically correct.

When I was a kid back in the 50s “gay” meant happy, festive, or similar good feelings. The first slang term for homosexuals that I can remember was queer. I do believe that far better describes homosexuals than gay. A reasonable definition of queer is “ beyond or deviating from the usual”. During those years we didn’t have homeless people, we had bums. We didn’t have alcoholics, we had drunks. We didn’t have baby mamas and baby daddys, we had mothers and fathers in the home. Illegitimate children were bastards (through no fault of their own). We didn’t have abortion. We didn’t have a Federal Government involved in our education system and every other aspect of our lives. We didn’t have welfare or food stamps, we had churches and the county could provide “Poor Relief”, but you often had to work for it. I’m not picking on anyone, I’m just stating facts, and the fact is in many ways we were better off. I know many people will disagree with us being better off back then, but I also know we had better moral values, more love for our neighbors, and a greater hope for the future. Sadly I don’t feel that same hope for my children and grand children.

I think the most arrogant, narcissistic thing a person can do is to pass judgment on others. That is God’s job, not yours!! I don’t care how you try to pretty things up, sin is sin. As a young man I was attracted to brunettes with nice butts (I realize that’s more than you wanted to know). I know men who were attracted to many different physical qualities of females that didn’t interest me in the least. I have no idea why I like brunettes, I just do. Even if I wanted to change that I couldn’t, and that’s the way life is with so many things. I see people driving cars that are so ugly I wouldn’t even want them in my driveway and they may feel the same way about my car. There are somethings we “feel” and we can’t help that, but we can help whether we act on those feelings. If your friend bought a brand new car and you wanted it, I would hope you wouldn’t act on that feeling and steal it. Stealing is a sin. I would hope you wouldn’t have an affair with someone no matter how much you wanted to. An affair is a sin. I realize that when people are sexually attracted to the same sex they can’t help that, but acting on those feelings is a sin. Just as acting on feelings of sexual attraction to children is a sin. I don’t make the rules (thank God). I am a sinner. I am no better than an active homosexual person, or any other sinner. My sins are no less or no worse than anyone else. People are always talking about “Social Justice”. We have social justice, it’s called reaping what you’ve sown. There have been many, many great men in the old testament, and as great as they were not one could totally keep The Law. Not even Moses or Solomon two of the most promiment. God knows and understands our weaknesses and frailties which is why he provided a way for us to be forgiven for our sinfulness. That Way is Jesus Christ. There is no other way period. You can dress sin up anyway you want to, you can make it sound nice and be politically correct, but the truth is when you die, and you will die, if you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior I truly feel sorry for you. I won’t blow smoke at you and tell you I understand things, but I will tell you I accept what I can’t understand by faith.

Very well said. You are one of the few I’ve heard/read who provides the framework to understand that innate proclivities do not free people from responsibility for their sinful actions. You tell of the reality of sin and of forgiveness from Christ for repented sin without losing sight of love, compassion, nor righteousness.

Ponder this question? Were people that lived before Jesus sinners? Did they go to hell?, when they did not have Jesus to believe in and save them? I think if we replace the person Jesus with the word love, we can say that the more love like you are the more peace and happiness you will find in your heart by the time you die, and that is the best place to be. Whatever happens when we die is for none of us to know for sure and we need to respect everybody’s opinion on that. Being love like you also respect what others do with their feelings as long as it does not harm anyone else. If you steal someone else’s car it deprives them of something. If 2 gays share in their love it adds to their love like state ,it does not spread hate and indifference.

There is no “before Jesus”. No one lived “before Jesus”. Whether they went to hell or not is not my place to judge. God and Jesus are in fact love. Look at John 3:16. God created us and loves us beyond measure. Genesis 18:2 says “ And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground “. One of the men was God the other two men are thought by many biblical scholars to be Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God was on His way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for being sinful. The main sin mentioned was homosexuality. Your sins don’t have to harm other people to be to be offensive to God. God does not change, sin does not change. One can rationalize anything I suppose based on “feelings”, but that is a very dangerous approach to life. God has declared homosexuality is a sin, period. I didn’t make it a sin. I will not judge those who commit the sin. I will not condemn them. I will not hate them. I am a sinner and I need the Grace of Jesus Christ just as much as any homosexual or any other sinner. I will not condone sin because it may “feel” good to do so. I cannot rationalize sin into a “state” of love as you stated. I sincerely hope that you will realize how dangerous “feelings” can be, and rely on the Word of God to direct you in your life.

So no one lived before Jesus! Jesus had parents and grandparents etc.What about Moses and David and Goliath? We are part of creation, and feelings are parts of humans. They can not be separated from the whole. Feelings of indifference, love, acceptance, rejection etc. are part of the human condition. The grace of “God” is to accept that we all are imperfect unique individuals but all lovable. I do not believe there is a “God” but the spirit of love that is the seed in us all incl. all of creation. Many dogs and small kids love unconditionally much better than adults. The fear of rejection and punishment of sin has yet to enter their minds. The spirit of Love does not use fear and punishment in regards to your human condition, only natural consequences for your actions.

I realized you didn’t believe in God when I read your first comment. I am also reasonably sure you are homosexual. We are going to have to agree to disagree. I do want to emphasize once again that I am not judging anyone. I don’t hate or even dislike homosexuals. Sin is sin, it doesn’t really matter which sin one commits. This is not a proper forum for a debate. I wish you felicity and happiness in all of your endeavors. Be blessed!

On January 16, 2014 at 12:39 am Ruth Knagenhjelm said:

I do not believe in your kind of God, that is right. And by the way, I’m a female who has been married to the same man for 33 years. I have had to come to be comfortable with homosexuality myself. Now I have met so many , incl. my office manager. But you see I do not believe in being sinners and going to hell or heaven, so therefore it does not matter what they are or what they do, as long as they are loving beings. And I think that is all Jesus was talking about, finding love ( God , Jesus’s spirit) within ourselves and give it to others as much as possible in this life, which is the only one we know. What happens when we die none of us know, except we know the physical body dies. Let it be up to each person to decide if they believe there’s a spirit that continues after death!.